MORE Merseyside criminals were brought to justice last year thanks to calls from the public to the Crimestoppers hotline.

Thanks to anonymous tip-offs, Crimestoppers were able to lead the police to find:

Drugs worth more than £800,000.

Vehicles used in crime worth £85,000.

£36,000 of counterfeit DVDs & CDs.

17 firearms.

In the year April 2009 to March 2010, police arrested and charged 202 suspects on Merseyside thanks to calls into the hotline.

And they acted on more than 3,600 calls to the freephone 0800 555111 number – an increase of more than 200 calls compared to the previous 12 months.

In the last year, Crimestoppers – who are not the police – and the ECHO have worked together on our Festive Fugitives (12 ‘crooks’ the police wanted to find over Christmas) and the increasingly popular monthly Caught on Camera feature, both of which have had great responses from the public.

Calls to Crimestoppers, who never ask for a caller’s name but can still offer rewards for some information, also helped to catch a 14-year-old boy who was one of a gang that launched a vicious homophobic attack on a 19-year-old gay man in Liverpool city centre last year.

Ian MacDonald, chairman of Merseyside Crimestoppers, said: “A huge thank you must go to the people of Merseyside for passing on vital information about crime. We are extremely proud that the charity continues to play such a vital role in helping to make our local community a safer place to live.”

Nationally, the charity has had an 11% increase in actionable information and an eight per cent increase in the number of people arrested and charged as a result of information passed to Crimestoppers.